Warsash Wasps in race against time to raise money for pitch

The Warsash Wasps Sports and Football Club in New Road offers a space for hundreds of children to play football every week.

However, after badgers tore through its main football pitch a tournament hosted by the club – one of its main sources of income – is at risk of being cancelled.

The badgers believed to be coming from the churchyard next door have caused the pitch to “go from looking like Wembley to a farmer's field”, according to voluntary coach Marcus Kennedy.

The damage to the field at Warsash Wasps caused by the badgers (Image: Newsquest, Jose Ramos)

However, the club is now appealing for the public’s help to help to restore the pitch to working order and to build badger-proof fencing around it.

A fundraiser has been launched to help with this issue which has raised almost £1,500 of a £5,000 target at the time of writing.

READ MORE: 'Badgers have turned our football pitch into a farmer's field'

As previously reported by the Echo, the club says this is the “biggest crisis” it has ever faced since being established in 1977, according to the 47-year-old Chief Inspector of Southampton at Hampshire Police

Marcus Kennedy with the under nine girls' football team (Image: Newsquest, Jose Ramos)

He said: “We’re swimming against the tide. The £5,000 if we do raise it will be if and when cancel the tournament.

“If we get away with running it we’ll still have to fork out a lot of money to bring the pitch back to working order.”

Last weekend around 100 people turned up to help fix up the pitch but by the next day, more holes had been dug.

A repellent has now been applied to the field and it is hoped that the effects will start to be seen before June when the tournaments take place.

The Warsash Wasps Sports and Football Club, under 11 girls group [back] and under nine girls group (Image: Newsquest, Jose Ramos)

Marcus added: “We have to have a functioning pitch to play in. It’s not so much for practice, but without it, we can’t run the tournaments.”

The GoFundMe page said: “We have had experts out to help us who have said they believe the badgers are digging for grubs in the pitch and therefore a repellent has been applied.

“But if this does not work, then the club will have no option but to cancel their upcoming tournaments happening in June.”